Constanza is still knocking on the door - hope somebody gives him a shot. Drese and Belliard are trying to resurrect their careers. I had no idea Drese was still in baseball. It seems forever since we traded him for Travis Hafner.

Barfield and Marte are still in their 20s but seem to get worse each year. It's hard to believe now that the Indians were very high on both these guys at one point.

Seems that Schafer is blocking Constanza as the next-in-line for CF for the Braves. Wouldn't be surprised to see Schafer up with the team shortly, as they're only carrying 3 OF (not counting Chipper). After that, does anyone know how close Constanza would be to being next-in-line?

Edible14 wrote:Seems that Schafer is blocking Constanza as the next-in-line for CF for the Braves. Wouldn't be surprised to see Schafer up with the team shortly, as they're only carrying 3 OF (not counting Chipper). After that, does anyone know how close Constanza would be to being next-in-line?

I would guess that he'd be neck-and-neck with Wilkin Ramirez as next-in-line. Neither is on Atlanta's 40-man. Constanza has the advantage of being the much better center fielder, and that's what Atlanta is in dire need of (granted, Schafer would be given the first and longest opportunity to fill that). The real question is how long Atlanta pretends that Nate McLouth is still a major league player. The real problem is that including this season, they still owe him at least $7.75 million.

Edible14 wrote:Seems that Schafer is blocking Constanza as the next-in-line for CF for the Braves. Wouldn't be surprised to see Schafer up with the team shortly, as they're only carrying 3 OF (not counting Chipper). After that, does anyone know how close Constanza would be to being next-in-line?

Eric Hinski can play left/right. But yes the Braves need another OF (they just sent Matt Young down). I think they bring Young or Mather up (Young after 10 days).

Braves called up RF Joe Mather (and added him to the 40), another older non-prospect similar to Matt Young. Constanza passed over for another promotion. Several Braves bloggers are advocating for Constanza, though. So he might get his shot soon enough.

Edible14 wrote:Braves called up RF Joe Mather (and added him to the 40), another older non-prospect similar to Matt Young. Constanza passed over for another promotion. Several Braves bloggers are advocating for Constanza, though. So he might get his shot soon enough.

Living here in the Atlanta area, I get to see the Braves quite often. The Braves bench doesn't really have someone that I would trust in CF. It is a good thing that Gwinnett is so close they can call up Costanza or Shaeffer in a pinch. They just got off a west coast swing so Mather adds something the bench doesn't really have RH power. Maybe Jose gets a shot this year but I don't see it (until Sept anyway).

Now what sucks is that the 1 week the Clippers come to town and I am On-Call at work so I can't see a game.

Edible14 wrote:Braves called up RF Joe Mather (and added him to the 40), another older non-prospect similar to Matt Young. Constanza passed over for another promotion. Several Braves bloggers are advocating for Constanza, though. So he might get his shot soon enough.

Constanza is just not viewed well in the scouting community, as a major league player. May get a shot at some point, but probably one of those guys who gets about 200-300 PA over a few years as a backup and fizzles out. Defense actually does not get high grades, which for a player like him is vital. It's what is holding him back. If he were a plus defender, he'd be in the bigs with his speed/defense combo off the bench as a fourth outfielder.

Jose Constanza just randomly crossed my mind today, so I looked to see how he's doing (and obviously he's just as much the afterthought in the Braves system as he was with the Indians)…

He's batting .323 with a .373 obp, but this might be some kind of record -- in 83 games and 319 at-bats, Constanza has 2 doubles, 4 triples and 1 home run -- that's not a typo, I checked multiple sources. He's sporting a .364 slg. pct. to go with that .323 batting avg.

Pork Chop Pough wrote:Jose Constanza just randomly crossed my mind today, so I looked to see how he's doing (and obviously he's just as much the afterthought in the Braves system as he was with the Indians)…

He's batting .323 with a .373 obp, but this might be some kind of record -- in 83 games and 319 at-bats, Constanza has 2 doubles, 4 triples and 1 home run -- that's not a typo, I checked multiple sources. He's sporting a .364 slg. pct. to go with that .323 batting avg.

A lot of scouts believe he is a career AAA player. A lot of those slap hits and infield hits he gets are outs in bigs. He doesn't walk a lot and is an average at best defender depending on who you talk to, is not a switch-hitter, and lacks any power whatsoever. Gonna be hard for him to break into the bigs. He will eventually, but won't stick around long.

Prosecutor wrote:How would you compare Costanza with Zeke Carrera? Same bat but Zeke is better defensively?

Yeah, Carrera and Constanza are similar hitters though Carrera has a smidge more pop and Constanza the better basestealer. Defensively though it is not even close as Carrera is above average to excellent while Constanza gets poor grades (it is why he is not in bigs).

Constanza also had a triple and a couple of excellent plays on defense Friday night. Who would have ever guessed that he'd be starting in a MLB outfield ahead of Jason Heyward? He's almost half way to his x-base hit total for their AAA team with only 10% as many at-bats.

I don't think he'll be anything more than a 4th outfielder once this hot streak is over. He might have a possible ceiling of Willy Taveras, but I assume all of us who saw him play in the Tribe system are rooting him on... he was just such a fun player to watch. If he keeps it up, a few people might even figure out what his last name really is.

Pork Chop Pough wrote:Constanza also had a triple and a couple of excellent plays on defense Friday night. Who would have ever guessed that he'd be starting in a MLB outfield ahead of Jason Heyward? He's almost half way to his x-base hit total for their AAA team with only 10% as many at-bats.

I don't think he'll be anything more than a 4th outfielder once this hot streak is over. He might have a possible ceiling of Willy Taveras, but I assume all of us who saw him play in the Tribe system are rooting him on... he was just such a fun player to watch. If he keeps it up, a few people might even figure out what his last name really is.

smt1192 wrote:You got me, even the Mets' announcers were getting his name wrong!

Don't feel bad... his Braves teammates have taken to calling him George.

I started it with spelling his name wrong. They were talking about him on the radio pre=game on Friday. Leo Mazzone said he was a complimentary piece and the other guys were like what? He did commit an error today. Guy is on fire and when he cools down he could still be a good reserve outfielder in the NL. Way to go Jose.